Olivia, Ethan top B.C. baby names

Those choices replaced the 2011 top parent picks, Liam and Emma, which both fell to second place. The most popular picks are compiled by the B.C. Vital Statistics Agency, which registered 44,270 births in the province in 2012. That’s a slight increase from 43,991 in 2011.

The most popular five girl names are Olivia, Emma, Sophia, Emily and Ava. The top boy names for 2012 were Ethan, Liam, Lucas, Mason and Logan.

The influence of popular culture shows up in baby names each year. In 2012 there were 71 babies named Justin, 70 named Taylor, 35 named Khloe and 30 named Bella.

The agency has posted a full list of B.C. baby names here that includes all names chosen five times or more during the year.